NEW RULES EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 1?

In a recent email, the NYS Academy of Trial Lawyers has advised attorneys that pursuant to Administrative Order 270/20, many Commercial Division Rules will now be incorporated into the Uniform Rules for the Supreme Court and County Court. As of today, this order is not listed on http://nycourts.gov/latest-AO.shtml but the NYS Academy of Trial Lawyers has summarized some important changes as follows:

"- Appearance Counsel MUST have knowledge and authority of the case (Exhibit A)

- Interrogatories LIMITED to 25 in number (Exhibit G)

- LIMIT on number of depositions and number of hours per deponent (Exhibit J)

- Sanctions PERMITTED for non-compliance with a discovery schedule (Exhibit M)

 - Prior to submission of a discovery motion, the attorney MUST attempt to resolve discovery issues. In the event a motion is the only means to resolve the issue, the attorney affirmation MUST include attempts at resolution as set forth in rule 14 (Exhibit N)

 - Adjournments of conferences will only be granted UPON A SHOWING OF GOOD CAUSE (Exhibit P)

 - Parties may appear by electronic means when requested and the Court is encouraged to grant such requests (Exhibit P)

 - LIMIT as to the length of motion papers (submitted in Rule 17) (Exhibit R)

 - SIGNIFICANT CHANGES to how motions for summary judgment are prepared (eg. now movant is required to annex a short concise statement to demonstrate no issue of fact) (Exhibit U)

 - Important CHANGES TO TRIAL PRACTICE and Procedure regarding exhibits, witnesses, trial memoranda and testimony (Exhibit X through BB)

 - STAGGERED COURT APPEARANCES - in order to increase efficiency, courts will schedule each appearance at a set time interval of time. To ensure all parties receive notice of the appearance, counsel on every matter is required to exchange email addresses and notify each other of notices of court appearances. (Exhibit CC)"